DrLauren Francis

Lauren is an active research supervisor whose students' projects extend her program of research on men's mental health, help-seeking and development across the life course. She is currently the primary supervisor of a PhD candidate investigating the impact of fatherhood on men's mental health help-seeking and co-supervises a Doctor of Psychology candidate. She has previously co-supervised one PhD candidate to completion and eleven fourth-year psychology students.

Between 2019 and 2023, Lauren taught in the School of Psychology at Deakin University, with expertise in statistics, research methods and adult developmental psychology. She taught into Advanced Psychology Research Methods and Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, supporting students to develop the statistical and evidence-synthesis skills that underpin contemporary psychological research. She also served as Senior Tutor in Adult Developmental Psychology, a field central to her life-course perspective on men's mental health and wellbeing.

As Project Manager of the MAPP study, Lauren has mentored a large cohort of research interns and helped develop the internship program to support both research capacity and student career development. Many former interns have progressed to postgraduate study, and she has also advised Deakin's Lifespan research area on the development of similar internship initiatives.

I think that opening sentence now strikes a very good balance: it foregrounds men's mental health and fatherhood, naturally incorporates help-seeking, and avoids leading with a comparison between men and women. It reads like an expert profile rather than a problem statement.